A little geocaching, a little history

There are not a lot of geocaches in the Pomeroy, Ohio area. We only did two in the general area but one was on the grounds of the Chester Courthouse in Chester, Ohio so we decided to stop in while we were there.

It turns out the cache was placed by the son of one of the volunteers at the Chester Courthouse Museum which is only open on Saturdays and Mondays this time of the year. We were fortunate enough to be out on a Monday so we were able to step inside and chat with the ladies who were having a meeting that day. We explained what we were doing and what the cache consisted of because even though the ladies knew the cache was on the property they had never seen it or looked for it. Denny and I then went upstairs to view the displays on the second floor, which consisted of some Civil War items, some quilts and local memorabilia. When we came back downstairs one of the volunteers explained the history of the building which was built in 1823, its renovations, the donations that made the museum possible including a large number of genealogy records donated by various families in the area who have provided copies of their personal research.

The museum is small, but the volunteers are dedicated and have a great deal of knowledge about the history of the town and the area and are more than willing to share that with visitors. They have high hopes of opening the old Chester Academy building next door to expand the museum but a lot of renovations are required before that will happen. The courthouse building itself required shoring up which was accomplished with the addition of concrete buttresses to the outside walls which were then covered with stucco. The buttresses are a bit jarring in context with the building but the staff apparently did what they could with what funds they had available.

This year a reenactment of Morgan's Raid was held the first weekend in September and those who participated claimed it felt like they were really involved in the battle because the area has remained wild and undeveloped as it would have been when the real fighting occurred during the Civil War.

Whether you are a geocacher or simply interested in a little local history, the Chester Courthouse museum is a nice place to stop and spend an hour.